The Bottom Line: Early treatment is of paramount importance for patients with crescentic GN. The current approach is based on a combination of corticosteroids and cytotoxic drugs with the aims of quenching the active inflammation and abating the cellular response and the antibody production

The etiology and the initial pathogenetic factors are different in the three types, but the final mechanisms leading to crescent formation and the renal symptoms and signs are similar.

The term crescentic glomerulonephritis (GN) refers to a pathologic condition characterized by extracapillary proliferation in > 50% of glomeruli. Clinically crescentic GN is characterized by a nephritic syndrome rapidly progressing to end stage renal disease (ESRD).